The Korea Herald

Creating a safe space for queer youngsters

Jan 7, 2014

[Letter to the editor] South Korea has one of the highest rates of suicide among developed (OECD) countries, reaching 28.4 per 100,000 people in 2011; the rate of teenager suicides was 9.4, also among the highest. Hidden among these tragedies are Korean LGBQT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Queer, Transgender), whose sexuality is often condemned by our traditional society. Although the media has publicized the suicides of the actor and model Kim Ji-hoo (2008) and a gay army serviceman (2013), the vast
[Kim Seong-kon] An affair to remember on a ‘Roman holiday’

Jan 7, 2014

A few weeks ago, I went to Rome and immediately fell in love with her. Just like her nickname, “Everlasting City,” Rome was so stunningly beautiful, full of marvels and wonders that I fell in love with her at first sight. Wherever I went, I encountered rich historic heritage and vestiges of the once glorious Roman Empire. Indeed, Rome literally looked like an array of beautiful postcards. I went to Rome not for pleasure, but for business. I participated in the 2013 European Translators’ Workshop
[David Ignatius] Ben Bernanke, crisis manager

Jan 6, 2014

WASHINGTON ― When Ben Bernanke was asked last month what historians would write about his eight-year tenure as Fed chairman, which ends Jan. 31, he gave a characteristically reticent answer: “I’ll be interested to see. I hope I live long enough to read the textbooks.” The surprising truth is that Bernanke, the modest, balding economics professor from Princeton, may go down as the most radical innovator in the Fed’s history ― and also, one of the most successful. To combat the financial meltdown
U.S., Russia should cooperate in war on terror

Jan 6, 2014

Well, that was fast. In an early-September column about the Syrian conflict and the new world order, I wrote that Russia and the West could team up against the forces of radical Islam. It looks set to happen sooner than expected, given the current wave of Islamic terrorist attacks not far from the site of the upcoming Sochi Olympic Games.The pre-Olympic suicide bombings give Russian President Vladimir Putin a wide-open shot at leading the world in the war against radical Islamic terrorism, and t
What if 21st century really begins in 2014?

Jan 6, 2014

As if you didn’t already have enough to be nervous about, here’s something creepy to ponder as the new year opens.This what-if isn’t technological, social, political or even science-fictional. Rather, it’s a bit of wholly unscientific, superstitious pattern-recognition. The last two centuries (and possibly more) didn’t “start” at their official point, the turning of a calendar from 00 to 01. That wasn’t when they began in essence, nor when they first bent the arc of history.No. Each century effe
[J. Bradford DeLong] American inequality on the rise

Jan 6, 2014

BERKELEY, California ― Unless something goes unexpectedly wrong in 2014, the level of real per capita GDP in the United States will match and exceed its 2007 level. That is not good news.To see why, consider that, during the two business cycles that preceded the 2007 downturn, the U.S. economy’s real per capita GDP grew at a 2 percent average annual pace; indeed, for a century or so, the U.S. economy’s real per capita GDP grew at that rate. So U.S. output is now seven years ― 14 percent ― below
Wealthy need to use resources to create jobs

Jan 6, 2014

Is it a sin to be rich?Not if your resources are used to help others and create jobs.If you listen to most of the discussions of income inequality, it certainly seems like affluence itself is a crime. We hear increasing calls for higher taxes on the wealthy and other policies designed to redistribute income. President Obama summed up that position when he said, “Our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it.”The assumption behind these proposals i
Nuclear megabargain between the U.S. and Russia

Jan 5, 2014

Iran is churning out nuclear fuel and may be on the brink of nuclear weapons capability. North Korea has already busted into the nuclear club, testing two bombs. The U.S. and its allies fear terrorists may someday acquire a nuclear weapon.Today, however, we spotlight a rare international nuclear nonproliferation success that has made the world safer: A two-decade-long deal to recycle Russian nuclear warheads and turn the uranium into fuel to power American nuclear reactors. The agreement ― calle
[Christine Lagarde] Re-empowering global economy

Jan 5, 2014

WASHINGTON ― The global economy in 2013 remained suspended between the poles of hope and uncertainty. While recovery gained momentum, particularly in some advanced economies, the world economy is not yet flying on all engines ― and is likely to remain underpowered next year as well.The International Monetary Fund’s latest forecast puts global GDP growth at 3.6 percent in 2014, which is decent, but still below potential growth of around 4 percent. In other words, the world could still generate co
The world economy’s shifting challenges

Jan 5, 2014

NEW YORK ― As 2013 comes to a close, efforts to revive growth in the world’s most influential economies ― with the exception of the eurozone ― are having a beneficial effect worldwide. All of the looming problems for the global economy are political in character.After 25 years of stagnation, Japan is attempting to reinvigorate its economy by engaging in quantitative easing on an unprecedented scale. It is a risky experiment: faster growth could drive up interest rates, making debt-servicing cost
[Robert B. Reich] Obamacare deserves patience

Jan 5, 2014

Whatever happened to American can-do optimism? Even before the Affordable Care Act covers its first beneficiary, the nattering nabobs of negativism are out in full force.“Tens of millions more Americans will lose their coverage and find that new Obamacare plans have higher premiums, larger deductibles and fewer doctors,” predicts Republican operative Karl Rove. “Enrollment numbers will be smaller than projected and budget outlays will be higher.”Rove is joined by a chorus of conservative Cassand
[Dominique Moisi] Unrealpolitik in Russia, China

Jan 3, 2014

PARIS ― In her recent book on the origins of World War I, “The War That Ended Peace,” Margaret MacMillan concludes that the only thing one can say with certainty about its causes is that leadership matters. No one really wanted war, but no one knew how to oppose it, because great statesmen like Germany’s Otto von Bismarck, whose self-restraint preserved peace in Europe for decades, were missing in Europe in 1914. A similar leadership void has become palpable in recent behavior by Russia and Chin
Booming Japan isn’t a good buy in 2014

Jan 3, 2014

Two numbers colored Shinzo Abe’s 2013 and offer hints about Japan’s prospects this year: 57 and 49.The first is how much in percentage terms the Nikkei 225 Stock Average surged in 2013. The prime minister even dropped by the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Monday to celebrate, declaring: “Next year will go well. With this thought, I want to do my best. Next year too, Abenomics is a buy.”The second number ― 49 ― explains why he’s probably wrong. It corresponds to Abe’s public approval rating as of Dec. 2
[David Ignatius] Overcoming national despair

Jan 2, 2014

WASHINGTON ― For an optimistic country, 2013 was a heck of a downbeat year, perhaps most of all for the nation’s chief executive. The entire top half of the Dec. 15 Outlook section cover in the Washington Post carried the bleak review: “President Obama, you had the worst year in Washington.”Who would disagree? But Obama certainly had competition in the worst-year department, from the poisonously divided Congress to investment-shy business executives to a public so demoralized by wars in Iraq and
Obama needs fast-track trade authority

Jan 2, 2014

President Barack Obama wants the power to negotiate free-trade treaties on a fast track. With Trade Promotion Authority, he would have a good chance of clinching huge trade pacts now being hammered out with Europe and Asia. Yet Congress may not give him that authority ― for all the wrong reasons.Over the years, Congress has recognized that negotiating trade deals requires special legislative procedures. Under ordinary rules, a trade deal would be subject to Capitol Hill amendments that in effect